How to be a nice Aurora 2 user

Looking at the way the forum is now flooded with questions everywhere, it seems to show that Ainol is picking up on sales and the community is cooking better stuff for the tab. But it seems to me that some people are just ignorant about certain issues. I wish to highlight some of them, and I hope this thread would be educational.

1. You get what you paid forA2 cost less than $200, and I think this is by far one of the most value for money tablet. Being cheap means that it WILL suffer in terms of official support, customer service, official communication channel and availability of good ROMs. Getting community help is a plus, but if you have unresolved issues and problems, remember, that $150 you paid can barely even buy you a decent branded mobile phone.

2. Do not expect your seller to solve your technical problemsSellers are merely people who gives you the goods for your cash. Most of them are not technically trained, and Ainol do not train a batch of staff for customer service like major brands do. I see a lot of people stating that their sellers could not resolve their problems, and I thought that is nothing unusual. However, sellers can do refunds and exchanges, and a lot of them are willing to give you a new device if you send your faulty one back. Yes that would be troublesome, the reason why Ainol do not have retail booth in most countries is simply because they are not financially capable and also to save cost. The cost saved is passed on to you. These inconveniences are in exchange for the cheap price, remember you get what you paid for.

3. Understand ChinaAinol is a China company, and things are different over there compared to in the West. People in China speak Mandarin and other related dialects as their first language, so do pardon them if their English is not good enough. Imagine reading through a pile of email in a language that you are not familiar with, that might be the reason why some of them do not reply to English emails. Customer service is not prioritized in China, it's not that they do not exist but probably not as emphasized like in some countries. Rather they focus on cost reduction and mass production. China has a huge internal market, I think a large portion of Ainol's sales go to China's own citizen, therefore perhaps customer support are shifted to support local buyers more than international ones. They are unlike companies like De@lExtreme or eB@y where their target audience are overseas buyers.

Price haggling is a common practice in Asia, you can often bargain for a better price if you are buying from a China seller. Of course, do it politely, and do note that it does not always work. China sellers are often flexible around policies and often believe in a win-win situation between buyer and seller. For example, most of them are willing to label your goods as gift with a very under-declared pricing so you can escape custom tax without hesitation. They are often willing to deal privately outside of eB@y or official online stores to escape paying commission to bring the savings to you, but please be careful as you will not have consumer protection.

4. SEARCH!Before you ask a questions, please do a search in this forum and in Google. I think more than 75% of the questions asked have answers already lying around with good instructions. Do not contribute to content clutter.

5. Not all issues are resolvableFace it - there WILL be problems where you cannot resolve or you will not be able to find a direct answer. Looking back at point #1, you get what you paid for. To make up for the extra cost that you would have paid Samsung or Apple, you will have to learn to solve problems independently or simply live with unresolved ones. You are paying in terms of research and technical skills in lieu of money.

6. Do not mod your tablet if you are not confidently skilledAccept the fact that some modifications requires technical skills that you lack. Then, it is either you do research and try it out and risk bricking your tablet or you live with the problems. Do not post and expect someone to magically pass on technical skills to you to fix your issues. You can, however, post and ask about details and clarification on the particular mod and fix. Be precise, "hey how do I get new roms on my A2?" does not work, while "I have figured how to enter recovery mode, do I need to unzip the files I downloaded to update the tablet?" works better.

7. Be appreciative the right wayIf you want to thank ROM makers, I think sending them a PM would be more sincere than a one liner "oh hai great rom you have there!" in the thread. I think donating would be the most practical action you can do to thank them. Feature request is good, but please do not demand for features. "Is there an alternate way to make XXX game work on the A2?" sounds much better than "Can you make it support XXX game?".

So, after reading this. Why would you buy a Chinese tablet (IF you have a "normal" western income)?

Price?
Well, IF you just should expect "poping sounds" (like on the new Ainol Fire), incorrect specifications (like the CPU-frequency on most Ainols), untested firmware that is likely to permanently brick the unit (like the new Ainol Fire) AND then pay for freight when returning a product that clearly is not up to given specification...

Why would you (IF you have a "normal" western income) do that (the questions is to you fellow readers, as well as to myself...)?

Have I just been as stupid as regular bet players? I.e. you can win in the short run but never over time.

So, after reading this. Why would you buy a Chinese tablet (IF you have a "normal" western income)?

Price? Well, IF you just should expect "poping sounds" (like on the new Ainol Fire), incorrect specifications (like the CPU-frequency on most Ainols), untested firmware that is likely to permanently brick the unit (like the new Ainol Fire) AND then pay for freight when returning a product that clearly is not up to given specification...

Why would you (IF you have a "normal" western income) do that (the questions is to you fellow readers, as well as to myself...)?

Have I just been as stupid as regular bet players? I.e. you can win in the short run but never over time.

I could not understand your question. Why would you not? I am not sure how normal is western income, but I am sure that USD$300 to 400 savings that comes from buying Ainol products meants a lot of to some citizens. Plus, it gives people from the poorer families a chance to enjoy the use of tablet, as well as students who do not wish to tax on their parent's money (that is my case).

It is also a challenge, to get a cheap and problematic tablet and tweak it to work, and proudly show it off to your friends how your China tablet thrash their branded ones. Those are joys for geeks (not sure if its call nerds or whatever in USA, but I'm taking about computer geeks, not hipsters) to feel accomplished instead of just buying a regular iPad that everyone else owns and knows nothing much about its workings.

I could not understand your question. Why would you not? I am not sure how normal is western income, but I am sure that USD$300 to 400 savings that comes from buying Ainol products meants a lot of to some citizens. Plus, it gives people from the poorer families a chance to enjoy the use of tablet, as well as students who do not wish to tax on their parent's money (that is my case).

It is also a challenge, to get a cheap and problematic tablet and tweak it to work, and proudly show it off to your friends how your China tablet thrash their branded ones. Those are joys for geeks (not sure if its call nerds or whatever in USA, but I'm taking about computer geeks, not hipsters) to feel accomplished instead of just buying a regular iPad that everyone else owns and knows nothing much about its workings.

Hi Cygig,

I understand the "Challenge part" (even though I am not skilled enough). I think that this is the main reason for buying (looking at most customers on this forum). I have a huge respect for "the geek"!

300-400USD in difference is not a fair comparison. You can’t compare the performance or quality feel between Ainol and the latest Samsung/Apple. I would get thrown out of a business meeting if I start up my Ainol Fire and it starts “eiiieeeiiieiiieii” and “pop,click-pop”...

A more fair difference is most likely less than 100 USD (compared to ASUS/Google/Kindle etc). 100 USD is for many/most people less than a days work and that will quickly run away if you have to search forums, flash different ROMs and then eventually send (and pay for the postage) the sh..t back to China.

But, hey. I am not an "Apple fan boy" (even though I have the iPad3) or something like that. I am just surprised over the low quality of my received Ainol Fire and I am also surprised how other Ainol customers accept the quality level (and the obviously non existing pre-sell testing). I guess that a product with better software (more tested ROM), a somewhat better production quality, somewhat better support etc could have a market outside these who just want to have "something to play with" OR "the challange".That better tested/manufactured product would win my heart and I would proudly show it in front of every blo..y hipster or Apple fan.